Fictitious Living

What is it about our lives that fictional books and movies appeal to us more than non-fiction or real life stories? Why don’t people have enough confidence in their own lives, their own story, that instead they feel that they have to turn to movies and books while hoping that these things would happen to them?

Last night one of my girls came to our room to return a DVD she had borrowed, The Notebook, and sat down to lament the fact that she doesn’t have and will probably never have a guy who will build a house for her. “Why can’t movies reflect real life more? Why do they have to be so fantasy-like?” she asked. Her next point was a good one too- “Why do movies make you feel so good when you watch them, but after they end, you’re left feeling a bit empty, like you know that was all just a fantasy and could never really happen?”

My roommate and I, of course agreed with what she had to say. Why do movies (and books, while we’re at it) portray real-life in such an unrealistic matter? Why do they make us wish that we had vampire boyfriends, or lived at the time of “Exodus”? I’m a huge advocate for escapism, we all need some in our lives, especially when things get stressful or overwhelming. But we should not turn our channels of escapism into our lives. I also believe that if you really get down to it, everyone’s life is a pretty interesting story on its own.

I may not be solving high-profile crimes with New York’s finest, but I am responsible for 74 teenage girls pretty much all day everyday. Believe me, life here is never boring. I’ve had to experience bus mishaps, mad dashes to class, taking girls to the emergency room (or almost having to, at least), late-night ice cream parties and more. Does that make my life any less interesting than Elizabeth Swan being abducted by semi-dead pirates?

Life is not interesting because after a slew of misunderstandings (that really, if the characters would just speak up a bit, totally wouldn’t happen) the Ben Afflecks of the world get the Jennifer Garners. Life is interesting because of the day-to-day, nitty gritty problems that require us to provide real life solutions. That stuff doesn’t happen in real life. So why can’t we just get over it?